29 Dec
2016
29 Dec
'16
8:44 p.m.
On Thu, 12/29/16, Noel Chiappa <jnc at mercury.lcs.mit.edu> wrote:
Interesting factoid about the Bendix G-15: it was
designed with the help of
one of the ACE people (Harry Huskey), and is basically a re-packaged ACE with
drum instead of delay lines. There's an interesting article by Huskey himself
in "Alan Turing's ACE" (by Jack Copeland) which discusses the G-15.
Indeed. Huskey is probably one of the most influential, least known
early pioneers. He was one of the engineers on the ENIAC, having
designed the card reader and punch interface units. He spent some
time at NPL and was one of the prime pushers behind the idea of
building a pilot version of the ACE. When he returned to the US, he
designed both the SWAC and the G-15. Later he was on the
faculty at UC Berkeley where three of his advisees were Niklaus
Wirth, Ken Thompson, and Butler Lampson. And he turned 100
early in 2016.
BLS
29 Dec
29 Dec
9:37 p.m.
I know it's getting off-topic, but anyone who wants to see a G-15 is
welcome to come visit the Vintage Computer Federation museum in New
Jersey. There were 500 units made. The one here is believed to be number
three. :) We hope to restore it one of these days.
10:57 p.m.
On Fri, Dec 30, 2016 at 12:37:00AM -0500, Evan Koblentz wrote:
There were 500 units made.
Hmm ... I remember from the old days that it was in the low 200s.
We hope to restore it one of these days.
Well let me know if I can help. In the new year one of my tasks is
to dust off the G-15 web site I created.
mcl
30 Dec
30 Dec
7:54 a.m.
On 12/29/2016 11:37 PM, Evan Koblentz wrote:
I know it's getting off-topic, but anyone who
wants to see
a G-15 is welcome to come visit the Vintage Computer
Federation museum in New Jersey. There were 500 units
made. The one here is believed to be number three. :) We
hope to restore it one of these days.
Is your drum in good condition? Ours was full of dust, and
3 tracks had been ground down to the brass due to dust
packing under the heads.
Jon
2 Jan
2 Jan
12:39 a.m.
On Fri, 30 Dec 2016, Jon Elson wrote:
Is your drum in good condition? Ours was full of
dust, and 3 tracks had been
ground down to the brass due to dust packing under the heads.
You can relocate bad tracks as there are a couple of spare tracks. And the
drum is made of aluminium, not brass.
Christian
9:47 a.m.
On 01/02/2017 02:39 AM, Christian Corti wrote:
On Fri, 30 Dec 2016, Jon Elson wrote:
Well, I am very certain that there was brass showing through
where the oxide had been rubbed through.
(For reference, we were talking about my experiences with a
Bendix G-15, not an LGP-30.) So, I think the G-15 drum had
a brass sleeve that might have been shrunk onto the aluminum
casting. The brass would not have holes, which the aluminum
casting could have had (But I'm just guessing about why they
made it that way.)
Jon
Is your drum in good condition? Ours was full of
dust,
and 3 tracks had been ground down to the brass due to
dust packing under the heads.
You can relocate bad tracks as there are a couple of spare
tracks. And the drum is made of aluminium, not brass.
2678
days inactive
2682
days old
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